Wing ORI looms on horizon Published Oct. 13, 2010 By Lt. Col. Richard Curry 507th Air Refueling Wing TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma -- With this summer's unit compliance inspection over, wing officials have already begun preparing for the wing's 2012 operational readiness inspection. During the October weekend drill, maintenance and operations personnel conducted ability to survive and operate (ATSO) training. "The rest of the wing had conducted ATSO training in 2009. Operations and maintenance were excused due to a pending December 2009 activation," said Lt. Col. Bonnie Tremblett, performance planner for the 507th Air Refueling Wing. However, the rest of the wing won't be sitting on the sidelines watching. According to Lt. Col. Don Satterlee, 507th Mission Support Flight commander, "Everyone in the mission support squadron are expected to periodically practice donning their chemical gear to start getting reacquainted with it." Satterlee recommended that, at a minimum, all wing members need to start reading their Airman's Manual 10-100. "Everyone needs to get extremely familiar with this information. Trust me, there will be a test," Satterlee said. According to 507th ARW commander, Col. Jeffery R. Glass, "Over the next 18 months, this wing will be working an intense ORI prep program where we start with small numbers to train the various leadership teams needed and refine our wartime skills. Wing exercises will continue to build upon each other until we have the full complement we need to pass this inspection. Our training will include members from our wing and our two guard partner wings. We will be ready in March 2012." "From this point forward, things will start getting much more intense," said Tremblett. "We have several operational readiness training periods planned starting next year that are roughly six months apart to get us prepared for our March 17 to 24, 2012 ORI."